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For the love of God, Kittridge thought How in the hell had he ended up in a school bus?

"Uh-oh," said Danny

Kittridge sat up straight A long line of abandoned vehicles, stretching to the horizon, stood in their path So upside down or on their sides Bodies were scattered everywhere

Danny stopped the bus April and Ti out the windshield

"April, get hie directed "Both of you to the back, now"

"What do you want e stepped down fro in vast black swar odor of rotten flesh The air was absolutely still, as if it couldn’t bring itself to ns of life were the birds, vultures and crows, circling overhead Kittridge moved up the line of cars Virals had done this, there was noit; there must have been hundreds of them, thousands even What did it ether like this, as if they’d been forced to stop?

Suddenly Danny was beside hiht I told you to ith the others"

The ht "Wait" He held up a hand, then said, "I hear so at all, just the creak of the crickets in the e, like fists onfrom over there"

The sound became more distinct with each step Soe Gradually its co underscored by a strangled echo of human voices Let us out! Is soe called "Can you hear me?"

Who’s out there? Help us, please! Hurry, we’re cooking to death!

The sound was conia printed on its sides The pounding was frantic now, the voices a shrill chorus of indistinguishable words

"Hang on!" Kittridge yelled "We’ll get you out!"

The door had been knocked kitty-corner in its fra to use as a lever, found a tire iron, and wedged the blade under the door

"Danny, help an, alap increased, a line of fingers appeared beneath the lip, attee commanded

With a screech of metal, the door ascended

They were from Fort Collins: a couple in their thirties, Joe and Linda Robinson, the two of the baby they called Boy Jr; a heavyset black irlfriend, Delores, a pediatric nurse who spoke with a thick West Indian accent; an elderly woe was never to learn her first name-with a nimbus of blue-rinsed hair and an enor ht fade haircut and brightly colored tattoos winding up and down his bare array hair and barrel-shaped torso of an aging athlete; he introduced himself as Pastor Don Not an actual pastor, he explained; by trade, a CPA The nickna Pop Warner football

"I always told theet our asses kicked," he told Kittridge

Though Kittridge had initially assuether, they had wound up with one another by accident All told versions of the same story They’d fled the city only to be stopped by a long line of traffic at the Nebraska border Word passed down from car to car that there was an Arh The Ar for word to let people pass For a whole day they’d sat there As the light had ebbed, people had begun to panic Everyone was saying the virals were co left to die

Which was, more or less, what happened

They arrived just after sunset, Pastor Don said Sounshots, and the sound of crunching an to tear past him But there was nowhere to run Within seconds, the virals were upon the into the crowd

"I ran like hell, just like everybody else," Pastor Don said

He and Kittridge had stepped away to confer; the others were sitting on the ground by the bus April was passing out bottles of water they’d collected at the stadium Pastor Don removed a box of Marlboro Reds froe hadn’t smoked since his early twenties, but what could it hurt now? He accepted a light and took a cautious drag, the nicotine hitting his system instantly

"I can’t even describe it," Don said, ejecting a plus were everywhere I saw the truck and decided it was better than nothing The others were already inside How the door got jammed I don’t know"

"Why wouldn’t the Ared philosophically "You kno these things work Probably soe through a trail of sot anybody?"

He e have a fae shook his head

"My son’s in Seattle, a plastic surgeon The whole package Married his college sweetheart, two kids, a boy and a girl Big house on the water They just redid the kitchen" He shook his head wistfully "The last ti kitchen"

Pastor Don was carrying a rifle, a 30-06 with three rounds re an eood for killing a squirrel, lanced toward the bus "And the driver? What’s his story?"

"A little off, maybe I wouldn’t try to touch him-he’ll just about have a seizure Otherwise he’s okay He treats that bus like it’s the Queen Mary"

"And the other two?"

"They were hiding in their parents’ base lot at Mile High"

Don took a last, hungry drag and crushed the butt underfoot "Mile High," he repeated "I’ nice"